Eleven Meets Twelve
by Chris.JC
Summary: Starts with a meeting between Jo and Henry from the 11th Precinct and the Homicide Squad from the 12th Precinct on the evening that Kate Beckett and Rick Castle get engaged and proceeds from there.


**11 Meets 12**

 **A/U This is a crossover between Forever and Castle, the idea came to me when I realised that that Forever is set in the 11** **th** **Precinct whilst Castle is set in the 12** **th** **. This is my first attempt, since school, which was more years since than I care to remember, at writing anything. Please forgive any mistakes I may have made and the no doubt poor style.**

 **This was on previously but I have taken it down and am now reposting.**

 **Unfortunately I have no connection with either of these programmes,**

 **Chapter 1. Friday 10 May 2013**

Detective Jo Martinez was having a slow boring day doing paperwork, as there had been no body drops in the past few days. She had been hoping to be kept busier to keep her mind off another of the firsts that was occurring in her life after the death of her beloved husband Sean 10 months ago. She had been told soon after his death that the first year would be the hardest as she had to get through the numerous anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas/New Year holidays and any other anniversaries personal to them that they had celebrated. Tomorrow Saturday would have been Sean's birthday. She was thankful for the fact that this was her weekend off, and that she was not on call, as she didn't want to have to cope with day whilst working.

As the time ground its way around to 5.00pm she decided that rather than staying in for the evening, she would have a nice long soak in a hot bath then go out for a few drinks to try and dull the pain she was feeling over tomorrow,

When she arrived home she broke out a bottle of whiskey and poured herself a stiff glass to have whilst she reclined in the tub. She then went upstairs to run the bath and to decide on what to wear for the evening, she settled for a lacy white sexy bra and panties, a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, a white silk blouse, that she had bought a couple of weeks since and hadn't yet worn, along with her favourite pair of 5 inch heeled black calf length boots.

After soaking in the tub for about an hour, by which time to water was beginning to cool down and her skin beginning to resembling a prune, she got out dried off and dressed for the evening. She carefully applied her make-up to enhance her stunning good looks in case she did meet someone by the end of the evening.

As she went out of the front door she slipped on her favourite leather jacket . She hailed a cab and asked to be taken to The Old Haunt, a bar that she had heard had been improved after being taken over about three years ago by Richard Castle, one of her favourite authors and the boyfriend of her good friend from the Police Academy, Kate Beckett, like many other people his books had helped her through the dark days immediately following Sean's death.

Meanwhile, in another part of Manhattan, Doctor Henry Morgan, who had been appointed as a Medical Examiner with the Coroners office about

4 months ago, after returning to New York after a number years of self enforced exile due to his secret condition, had decided that as it was a lovely spring evening he would take a stroll through the streets of the city he loved, above all others, to see the changes had taken place during his self imposed exile,

As he walked his thoughts turned to Jo Martineze, with whom he had worked a number of cases, after been temporarily assigned to the11 Precinct homicide squad. He was somewhat concerned that she wasn't dealing with her late husbands death very well and was leaning on alcohol as crutch, as he had smelled the after fumes of whiskey on her breath on a number of occasions when they got an early morning call, and he was wondering how he could help her,

He suddenly realised that he was feeling somewhat thirsty and thought that an ice cold beer, not his usual drink of choice, would go down very well, he saw he was just coming up to The Old Haunt, and was somewhat surprised that it was still going after all these years, as he remembered drinking there occasionally when it was a speakeasy, in the late1920's, he thought that it would be interesting to call in to quench his thirst and to see how the 'old' place had changed over the years.

Just as he was about to go down the steps to the entrance a taxi cab pulled up and out stepped Lanie Parish one of his colleagues at the ME's office.

"Hello Henry" she greeted "What are you doing out in this neck of the woods?"

He replied saying "It seemed a nice pleasant evening so I thought that I would go out for a stroll round the streets of the best city in the world and see how things had changed whilst I was away, I reached here and felt that it looked a good place to pause and get a cold beer to slake a raging thirst."

As they went through the door Lanie asked "Have you settling in OK at the morgue?"

Henry replied "Yes, I have just finished a case with the 11th Precinct and apparently am going to be assigned to them on a permanent basis as their associated ME. from Monday" he asked her what she was doing here"

Lanie said "I am here for drinks with the 12th Precinct homicide squad with whom I am associated mainly, as you are here on your own, why didn't you join us?"

Henry replied saying "Thank you for the invite, but only if I won't be intruding."

Lanie said "Don't worry about that the guys are friendly and don't bite, usually! and anyway I know the owner of the bar"

They made their way over to the corner booth where the rest of the gang were sat and Lanie proceeded to do the introductions.

She said "Hi everyone, sorry that I am late I got held up finishing up an autopsy. As I was coming in I ran into my colleague Dr Henry Morgan and invited him to join us as he was here on his own, I didn't think you would mind."

"Henry," she said. Let me introduce everyone. This is Kate Beckett who most people in the NYPD consider to be the number one female detective in New York her other claim to fame is that she is the inspiration for Nikki Heat, who's story's her partner Rick Castle, who is sat next to her, writes he is also owner of this place. Next along is Javier Esposito and his partner Kevin Ryan, sat next to Kevin's is his wife Jenny. Then there is Captain Gates who leads the 12th Precinct finally there is Tory Ellis the teams Tech wizard."

At that moment a waiter arrived at the table to take everyone's drinks order. Whilst he was doing so Castle gave him a slight nod to let him know that they were ready for the champagne, he had ordered, to be brought to the table after the drinks order had been served.

Whilst this was going on Henry looked around the room to see all the alterations that had taken place since his last visit. As his eyes swept along the bar they alighted on Jo Martinez who was sat on a bar stool, he saw that her head was hanging down and that there were a number of empty shot glasses along with three full ones in front of her, which added to the concern he had felt earlier.

He turned to the table and said "I have just seen someone I know over by the bar and if you could excuse me for a few moments I just want to go over and say hello."

At this point Kate's hazel eyes looked across to where Henry had been looking and saw Jo, she said to Henry "I know Jo, why don't you ask her to join us as she looks as though she could do with some good company."

Henry went across to where Jo was sitting and stood next her. "Hello Detective Martinez" he said.

Somewhat startled by the familiar voice Jo looked up to see Henry standing beside her. "Good evening Henry" she replied "this is a surprise I wasn't expecting to see anyone I knew here tonight."

Henry told her that he had been more or less kidnapped by Lanie and asked to join the party from the 12th at their table, he said that he had just spotted her as he was looking around the room and was about to come over to her when Kate Beckett had seen her and asked him to invite her to join them.

Jo looked across to the booth and saw Kate smiling at her and gesturing for her to go across and join them,

Jo had become good friends with Kate when they were both at the Police Academy and rivals as they were both in the in the top five of their year, in fact they had finished 1 & 2 in the year which was a new record as two female cops had never finished in those positions in one year, they had drifted apart from one another to a great extent when Jo had met Sean and also due to their busy work schedules

Jo thought for only a moment and decided she would join them rather than stay at the bar alone, she finished off one of the shots and took the other two with her to the table, when she reached it she said "Hello Kate, it been a while since we saw one another."

Kate stood and reached out and gave her a hug replying "Hi Jo it certainly has been." She continued saying "I was devastated to hear about Sean, how are you holding up?"

Jo replied "Some days are harder that others, especially like this weekend as it would have been Sean's birthday."

Kate said that she had her utmost sympathy as she had lost her mother very suddenly as Jo knew, she told her she needed to hang in there as the pain of loss did eventually begin to ease with the passage of time even if it didn't feel as though it ever would at the present time.

Kate then introduced her to the rest of the team starting with the love of her life Rick Castle.

Jo said "Rick I feel as though I already know you as your books helped me to get through the early days after Sean died. To try and ease the pain I immersed myself in them as after a friend's recommendation. .

At that moment the champagne that Castle had ordered arrived at the table.

When all the glasses had been charged Kate stood up, all eyes turned to her. She said "This afternoon when I had got a confession from our latest suspect I asked Espo and Kevin to get his statement and charge him as there was somewhere I had to be, they knew that I was somewhat preoccupied and asked if anything was the matter, I told them that I had something to tell them but that there was someone else I had to tell first, my intention at that time was that I would go back to the station and tell everyone my piece of news The person I needed to speak to first was of course Rick. We met at 'our' swings to talk I apologised to him for keeping secret's from him he took over the conversation, I was convinced in my own mind due to the serious way he was talking and what I thought the state of our relationship had reached when I left for work this morning, that he was going to break up with me which felt absolutely devastating, but I was in for the biggest shock I have ever received in my life as he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Before giving my reply I told him that I had something I needed to tell him that I had been offered a job with the Attorney Generals Special Task Force in Washington DC and that I was taking it. He said he wasn't proposing so as to keep me in New York but he couldn't imagine life without me. I naturally said Yes. So instead of one piece of news for you we now two and we thought it better to tell you here and celebrate properly.

At this point she held out her left hand with her 'big' engagement ring for all to see. After the congratulations and toast had finished they all partied into the late evening.

About 11.30pm Kevin and Jenny said that it was time they got away as Jenny, who was pregnant, felt her bed calling. Lanie said that she was on call the following day and needed at least a few hours of sleep. Espo said the he would see Tory home, A couple of minutes later Captain Gates husband walked in to take her home. Before she left she took Kate to one side and gave her a big hug along with her best wishes for success in her new career with the A.G's office. She also said "Don't be stranger Kate, call in at the precinct when you are home with Castle." "Hell you can even bring Rick with you,* she added humorously.

Henry thanked Kate and Rick for a very enjoyable evening and said that he would escort Jo home as he didn't want her to wander the streets alone especially as she was what could only be described as more than slightly tipsy.

Jo gave Kate another hug and said quietly in her ear "Thanks Kate for helping the evening pass a lot more quickly and enjoyably than I had been expecting when I came out. Now we have reconnected lets keep the contact up," She gave Kate one of her recently updated cards which including her email address and Skype number.

Saying good-bye she then left with Henry, as she reached the top of the stairs she stumbled and would have fallen if he had not caught her by the elbow and steadied her. The contact brought a reaction that she had not been expecting as what seemed a like a charge of electricity shot up her arm and warmed her whole body also a small cloud of butterflies arose in her stomach, _What the hell was that she wondered to herself, though she knew that it was the contact between his hand and her elbow that had started it._

As they exited the pub Henry was about to hail a cab, but she realised that she didn't want the evening to end just yet so she said "Henry why don't we walk for a while as it is such a nice evening"

Henry breathed a sigh of relief because he didn't want the evening to end either and said "That seems a nice idea"

As they set off walking Jo slipped her arm through his in a companiable way and they started chatting about a range of subjects, Jo told him about her childhood memories and her happy childhood, why she had decided to become cop and when her ambition had evolved to become a homicide detective and why. They discussed their hobbies and pastimes, their tastes in music and art. Henry told her his reasons for joining the medical profession, he even mentioned his stint as a gravedigger.

All too soon Jo realised that they were getting near her home, and that the evening was now drawing to a close.

As they reach the steps leading up to her door Henry said "Jo I have had a lovely evening in your company. Just before I go can I say something?"

"Yes of course you can" she replied.

"Jo I know you said that it would have been Sean's birthday tomorrow and that you aren't looking forward to the day as it will bring back sad memories for you, can I make a suggestion to you that eventually helped me after I lost Abigail, my wife, for a number of years on anniversaries I had wallowed in despair and self pity, then one day someone said to me that on the next anniversary of whatever, instead of thinking of how much I missed Abagail I should instead concentrate on all the happy times we had together and celebrate her life rather than mourning her passing". He continued "I also wanted the heartache and the what felt like a missing part of me to go away but I was made to realize that it never will and that I had to learn live with that and to compartmentalise my heart. The thing about the heart is that like the TARDIS it is bigger on the inside than on the outside, and that there is plenty of room in it for more than one love in a lifetime."

"There is no shame in living your life now to the full, indeed if Sean loved you as much as you say he did and you loved him he would want you to move on with your life with the possibility in the future of meeting someone else and falling in love again, it might not be quite like the love you had with Sean, but you deserve to be happy."

"What I am going to do Jo, is give you until tomorrow evening to celebrate Sean's birthday, then I will call at 7.30pm to pick you up to take you out for a meal and we can talk about your day."

Jo felt a couple of tears running down her cheeks as she looked at Henry. She only hesitated for a couple of moments before quietly saying. "OK thank you Henry I would like that."

Just as she turned to go inside she put her hand in her jacket pocket to get out her front door key and felt something in the bottom of the pocket, she remember then that she had picked up his pocket watch at the crime scene on the crashed subway train. She pulled it out and handed it over to Henry saying "I believe this is yours."

Henry thanked her and smiled. He watched her go through her front door and as he turned away to go home he said "Thank you and Goodnight Detective Martineze until tomorrow."

TBC

 **11 Meets 12**

 **A.N. Much to my surprise I have found that I have the urge to keep this going for at least two more chapters. I still don't have any connection to the writers of Castle and Forever or ABC Television, thanks guys.**

 **Chapter 2. Saturday 11 May 2013**

 _9.00am Saturday Morning_

The following morning the ringing of her cell phone awoke Jo from a lovely cosy dream she was having about a certain M.E. moving towards her his hands were tenderly touching her cheeks and his lips were just about to make contact with hers!

She picked up the phone and answered it with a very disgruntled "Hello."

"And a very good morning to you too sunshine" said a voice on the other end, she quickly recognised that it was Kate Beckett who was calling'

"Sorry Kate" she said "Its just that you awoke me from a dream that was just getting very interesting, you know what I mean?

"Yes I do." said Kate thinking back to the number of times she had been interrupted whilst having dreams and daydreams about Castle at an inconvenient time. "Sorry about that. Anyway what I was ring for was to see whether you had plans for lunch today?"

"Nothing important." She said "Why?"

"In that case would you like to meet me and my dad at Remy's for lunch about 12.30pm.?"

Jo hesitated for a moment before replying "Are you sure Kate?"

Kate quickly replied "Yes."

"OK, see you there" Said Jo.

Being now wide awake Jo got out of bed and ran a hot shower before making a light breakfast of granola with fresh fruit with her first coffee of the day..

After eating she decided to go and visit Sean's grave, when she arrived she remembered what Henry had said last night about remembering the good times of their marriage, she sat down on the grass and talked to him remembering many of the fun things they had done and said over their time together. When she left to go and meet Kate and her dad Jo found that she wasn't as sad and depressed as she had thought she would be.

 _12.30 Remy's Burger Bar._

Jo walk through the door of Remy's just as a nearby clock struck the Half Hour. She looked around and spotted Kate sat in a booth by a window she waved and walked over to her smiling.

"Hi" she said as she removed her jacket and took a seat opposite.

"Hi Jo." Kate replied " Dad's not here just yet so can have a chat before he arrives."

"That sounds a little ominous" Jo said.

"I hope you don't take it that way." Said Kate "I know that I shouldn't interfere and it is up to you how you live your life, but a few murmurs have reach my ears over the last few months that you are not coping with Sean's death very well and that you seem to be turning to alcohol to try and help you cope. I couldn't help but notice last night that your hands were trembling a little and it started to get me worried, especially when you were one of the few people who gave me a lot of help when I was still learning how to cope with my mother's murder. At the same time I nearly lost my father to the effects of alcohol as he embraced it help him to try and cope with her death, It took him five years and few close brushes with death to come back to me as a loving father He has been sober for about ten years now and I am immensely proud of him. What I am saying Jo is think what you are doing before you go too far down that path, would Sean have wanted to you to do that? You may not fully realise it but you have a lot of friends who are starting to worry because they care about you and don't want you to ruin your life, especially Henry if what I saw last night was anything to go by. That's one of the reasons I invited you to join dad and I for lunch. Please talk to him he may be able to give you help and advice or even just listen, not today but when you feel ready. I don't want you to feel that I am trying to put any pressure on you, I am only doing it because I care about you and I don't want to loose you as a friend. Please at least think about it. I know I probable shouldn't have, but I have briefly talked to my Dad about you and he is more than happy to give any help he can. "

At that moment a slim sprightly older gentleman walked up to the table and gave Kate a big hug..

"Hi Dad" said Kate "I would like you to meet my good friend, at least I hope she still is, from my days at the Police Academy, Jo Martinez. Jo this is my Dad Jim Beckett."

"Hello Mr Beckett." Said Jo

"Please call me Jim" he replied "It makes me feel old when friends call me Mr Beckett. I understand that Katie and you were friends and rivals for the top spot in your year at the Police Academy?"

"Yes," Jo replied with a smile on her face "Kate beat me by 3 marks and I am still trying to work out how to get her back."

Jim said "That could be a lifetime quest as I am still trying to find ways to get her back for a lot of the stunts she pulled when she was growing up. But I love her anyway. Kate told me that you lost your husband earlier in the year please accept my heartfelt condolences, I know what you are going through, just don't make the same mistakes I made by pushing away friends and family let them help you to get through things. If you ever want to talk to a neutral party please don't hesitate in calling me, I like to think that I am a good listener, here is my business card with my contact details."

The waiter arrived at that point to take their order. Kate ordered her usual Burger and fries with extra fries and a strawberry milk shake. Jo decided to have a Waldorf Salad with chocolate milk shake as she was going out with Henry for a meal later on and didn't want to spoil her appetite. Jim ordered a cheeseburger with wedges and a bottle of sparkling water.

The rest of the lunch time passed quickly and enjoyably. As they left Remy's Kate hugged Jo and whispered in her ear "I hope I didn't overstep with what I said earlier?"

Jo replied "No I think it might have been the wake up call that I needed, Talking of wake up calls can you leave early morning ones a bit later next time to let me finish any dream I am having! All the best for the Washington job Kate, go and knock them out, and we will get together again when you visit home."

She shook hand with Jim and gave Kate a big friendly hug say Good bye to them both.

As she walked away from the restaurant she decided to revisit some of the places that she and Sean spent time enjoying, during their time together one of these was Central Park near the children's playground where they had sat and watched the kids playing and speculating what their family would be like, they had been talking about trying for children in a couple of years, however not long before his death Sean had started to suggest that they try and bring this forward.

After Central Park Jo made her way to the Rockefeller Centre and thought back to the good times they had enjoyed at Christmas Ice Skating eating hot roast chestnuts and other Christmas Fare. She then moved on to Times Square where they had come to count in the New Year and watch the ball drop.

When she returned home around 5.00pm for her ' _Date! no no no where did that come_ _from. she thought_ ' they were just going out as two friends for a meal and to enjoy each others company. Any way Henry had made it clear when they had first met that he wasn't interested in her in that way. As she thought about it she thought that she could be a bit insulted if she tried, she might even try teasing him about the remark. She was pretty certain that Henry's feelings were not quite as uninterested as he had made out.

Jo went up to her bedroom to start preparations for her night out with a smile on her face, she realised that she was really looking forward to seeing him.

What to wear was the question of the hour, whilst she didn't want to appear as though she was dressed to the nines to try and capture Henry she never the less wanted to emphasis her femininity and give a hint of sexiness.

After carefully scanning through her wardrobe she settled on a dark blue off the shoulder figure hugging knee length dress. Her underwear would be a black lacy bra and matching panties. She considered whether to wear tights and decided on a pair of dark blue ones that she thought would emphasis her long shapely legs. On her feet she would wear a pair of elegant 4 inch heeled black shoes.

She looked at the clock and saw she just had time for a quick bath before she got dressed.

At 7.00 she started applying her make up. When she finished she looked at herself in the mirror and was very satisfied with what looked back at her.

Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs there was knock on her door, which she hurried to answer, glancing at the clock she saw the time was almost dead on 7. the only person it was likely to be was Henry. As she opened the door she made sure that she kept her eyes on his face, in all honesty she could say that she had never before witnessed a jaw dropping occasion but tonight she did as Henry's jaw literally dropped open, bringing a huge smile to Jo's face.

"Hi" She said "Come in while I get my coat."

As she turned to go for it Henry got a control on himself and produced a beautiful bouquet of flowers, saying to her "A beautiful bouquet for an even more beautiful lady."

Jo felt a warm glow creeping up her cheeks at the complement, and thinking that no one had complemented her like that since Sean. She said "Excuse me while I get a vase to put these flowers in, then we can get off."

As tonight was Henry's treat she had no inkling as to where they were eating.

Henry had hired a Town Car from Blue Moon Car Rentals therefore the destination didn't get any clearer for her. Eventually they pulled up in front of Q3 which Madison Queller was co owner, she had been introduced to Madison, who was friend of Kate's from school, when they were at the Academy, As they walked through the door they were met by Maddie who gave her a big hug saying "Hey, Jo Too long no see, how are you?"

Jo replied "I am well and am looking forward to trying your menu." She went on to say "It seems that this has been a weekend when I have reconnecting with old friends as we met up with Kate last evening the first time I have seen her in three or four years and I had lunch with her and her Dad today" She said to Maddie "Did you know that Kate and Rick got engaged yesterday?"

Maddie said "It's about time, I once took Rick to a restaurant food demonstration when Kate was unable to go and Rick volunteered to be my escort, this was before they were together, Kate was at the time investigating the murder of one of my chefs and was dating a Robbery detective, Halfway through our meal in marches Kate like a storm trooper and took me in for questioning. Before the interview got fully under way I ask her did she have to arrest me just to break up my 'date' with Rick and I accused her of wanting to make little Castle babies. Her face was a picture as she tried to hide her jealousy over our 'date'. Luckily everything was sorted out eventually and we returned to our old friendship"

Maddie showed them to their table and passed them menus, when they had ordered a waitress brought a complementary bottle of wine to their table from Maddie.

While they were waiting to be served Jo told Henry about her day she said that she had tried to embrace what he had said last night about looking for the enjoyable times she and Sean had spent together. She also told him about her lunch with Kate and her father, she told him what Kate had said about her drinking, She said that when Kate had first brought the subject up she has felt very uncomfortable and a was almost ready to tell her to mind her own business and keep her opinions to herself but as Kate had continued to talk she had realised that she was concerned as a friend and wanted to help, she told Henry about Jim Beckett and his offer of help her if she wanted it, She said "I may well take him up on it, what I hadn't realised was how I was beginning to rely on a nightly drink, and sometimes two or three, to help me sleep. This is something I want to change but realise that I will need help from my friends. I know this is a big something to ask Henry but will you be on of those people I can turn to for help" When she said this she hadn't realised how desperate she was for him to say Yes.

Henry looked her straight in the eyes and said "Jo of course I will, I will always be there for you when you need me."

At this point their meal arrived which they enjoyed immensely.

As they were leaving Jo sought Maddie out to thank her for the wine and to complement her on the superb cuisine of the restaurant. She said that she would be recommending it to anyone who would listen., she told her that she hoped that they would meet up again sooner rather than later.

The town car picked them up and whisked them off, once again as the previous evening neither of them wanted the evening to end yet so they asked the driver to drop them at Central Park so they could take a stroll through the park.

When they got out of the car Henry's arm went round Jo's waist, causing another bolt of electricity to run up and down her spine and the butterflies to start swarming again in her stomach. Jo's arm went round Henry's waist and her head rested comfortably on his shoulder. They wandered through the Park for over an hour before Jo started to feel her bed calling, luckily they managed to hail a cab without too much delay to take them home, when they reached Jo's house Henry walked her to her door and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. He said to her "Goodnight sweet Jo sleep well. And I will see you on Monday."

 **11 Meets 12**

 **Same as above I don't own either of these series, wish I did, I have just borrowed them to play with and to try and have a bit of fun .**

 **Chapter 3. Saturday 14 December 2014**

Jo Martinez had spent most of her Saturday off cleaning her house, doing her laundry and her weekly shopping. She had also bought a new dress for the party that she and Henry were attending that evening to celebrate the marriage of Kate Beckett and Rick Castle. The wedding had actually taken place very suddenly on the 10 November with only Kate and Rick present along with Alexis, Martha and Jim Beckett. and of course the officiate.

Jo had bought them a very modern elegant cut glass crystal vase from herself and Henry as a wedding present.

Kate and Rick had decided that they wanted to celebrate their marriage with friends and relatives who had not been able to celebrate with them due to the sudden decision they had made to get married immediately, After they had been disappointed when the original wedding, in May had to be cancelled due to Rick's kidnapping. The Old Haunt had therefore been closed for the evening for a Private Party.

Jo looked at the clock and saw that it was just coming up to 5.00 pm so she decided to go and slowly start getting ready.

As she sat down in front of her make up mirror her thoughts drifted back to that Friday evening when Kate and Rick had announced their engagement, she was forever thankful that the fates had taken her to the Olde Haunt that night and that Henry had spotted her at the bar with Kate insisting she join them for the celebration. She remembered how Henry had held her by the arm on the way out when she had tripped, as they were leaving and the sudden bolt of electricity that had run up her arm, she vividly recalled suggesting to him that they walk home rather than taking a cab.

The following day she had met Jim Beckett, Kate's father, for the first time and over the following months they had met up and become friends as they talked about the pain and sorrow of losing a beloved partner and the consequences of taking the easy option of losing ones self in drink to try and drown the pain. She was still very grateful to Jim for the time and advice he had give her helping to avoid slipping any further down that slippery slope that she was taking towards alcohol dependancy.

She also thought back to the meal with Henry at Q3 that evening, this had proved very significant for their relationship she recalled the sweet kiss that Henry had given her as he delivered her to her front door.

On the Monday morning Henry had been made her unofficial partner at work, this had led her to start wondering about certain things that he said and did that didn't totally add up. She knew instinctively that he was keep a secret or something from her. During the year she had had to tell him off on a number of occasions when he had been reckless with his own safety by jumping in front of her at dangerous times, she couldn't bear the thought that she might loose him because of one of these actions. He was now the love of her life.

Her thoughts also turned to the time when she thoughts he had started a relationship with Iona the dominatrix and the jealousy she had felt. She knew Henry had been equally jealous when she had dated Isaac Monroe and she regretted having done so. Luckily in the end this hadn't damaged their relationship as Henry had asked her, the previous weekend, to marry him and she had had no hesitation in accepting his proposal, which was why she was now wearing a magnificent diamond engagement ring on the third finger of her left hand.

Looking at the clock on her phone she decided that she had better get a move on to get ready for the party. She went to turn on the shower to warm up and quickly assembled her attire for the evening She was going to wear a very sexy low cut black bra with matching thong, as she was expecting that Henry would be staying the night and she wanted to feel extra sexy when they got home. She also laid out the new burgundy sheath dress that she had purchased that morning and she took from her wall safe the diamond and ruby drop ear rings that Henry had bought her last Christmas.

Meanwhile at the Castle loft Kate and Rick were getting ready, by, in theory soaking in the big tub in their bathroom though it wasn't quite a lazy relaxing bath as things were once again getting heated between the two of them, as they were celebrating an announcement that they were going to make that evening. As the water in the bath cooled down the two Castles got out of the bath both with one of the lofts giant fluffy bath towels which they used to dry one another off.

Kate and Rick had agreed that because only three of the guests tonight had seen their wedding outfits, that that was what they were going to wear. When she was dressed Rick growled, as he had after the wedding, "If you're my wedding present I can't wait to unwrap you."

Kate said "Down Tiger you will have to wait until we get back here."

As they went to sit on the sofa Martha and Alexis joined them. At 7.30pm Jim arrived. The Limo that was taking them to the Old Haunt arrived moments later and they set off.

There were two DJ's employed for the evening the first DJ started his gig around 7.15pm he was to play modern and pop music, whilst the other DJ was to play the oldies and smoochier tunes, the plan was that they would each do 90 minute spots throughout the evening.

Similarly Rick had called in all the bar staff and they were each to do 60 minute shifts throughout the evening to enable them all to enjoy the Party as well.

Guests started arriving shortly after 7.30pm to be greeted by Kate and Rick, each were served with a glass of champagne or non alcoholic drink at the door.

Jo and Henry arrived at 8.00pm they gave the happy couple their best wishes for a long and happy life together. Not wanting to steal their thunder Jo whispered in Kate's ear that her observation from their first Saturday lunch together had turned out to be accurate as she and Henry had got engaged the previous weekend Kate was thrilled for them and had a huge grin on her face as she embraced both Jo and Henry and congratulated them, Rick kissed Jo and vigorously shook Henry's hand whilst wishing them every happiness for the future,

Jo and Henry went into the bar area and found that their friends from the 12th had saved them seats at their table.

At 9.0cloock Kate and Rick got up on the stage, Rick said "Welcome everyone and thank you for coming to The Olde Haunt to help Kate and I celebrate our marriage of a few weeks ago. We apologise that we had you all on a wild goose chase to the Hamptons when I was unavoidable delayed back in May by being kidnapped and held against my will for over eight weeks. When I was rescued it took a quite awhile for us to get back to normal, then I was knocked out and went into what felt like an alternate universe where Kate and I had never met When I came round I realised that I didn't want to wait another day to marry this fantastic woman" He turned and gave Kate a tender kiss. "We decided that we would try and get married that day, luckily we were able to pull it off. Unfortunately because of the rush we were not able to invite anyone except our immediate family to the wedding and that is why we arranged this celebration tonight. To allow you to see how beautiful Kate looked that evening we decided we would wear our wedding outfits this evening."

He continued on to say. "We have one other piece of news which in other circumstances we would have probably have kept to ourselves for a few weeks longer but we both feel that we want everyone to know that Kate is pregnant, we only just confirmed this yesterday afternoon." He once again turned to Kate with a look of total love and adoration on his face and gave a spectacular kiss which led to a number of wolf whistles and comments such as "Why don't the two of you just get a room." All done in fun of course.

After that the evening got into full swing with everyone having a really good evening.

Jo and Henry decided about 1.30am that it was time for them to make their way home and they called for the town car they had arrived in to come and pick them up. When they reached Jo's house they went into the front room, Jo went into to kitchen to make some hot chocolate for them to have before retiring to bed. As they sat on the sofa she turned to look at Henry and said "There is something I need to talk to you about Henry as I have a feeling that you are keeping something from me that is important to the two of us. I am determined to get you to tell me as I don't like not knowing things, so tomorrow morning we are gong to sit down together and you are going to let me in on this secret of yours."

Henry had for sometime been trying to get up the courage tell Jo the secret he had been carrying with him for around 200 years. He looked at her and knew by the look on her face and in her eyes that he could completely trust her with it and he agreed that they should clear the air the following day.

They then made their way to Jo's bedroom for a night of love and passion. Just before she slipped into sleep she whispered in Henry's ear

"I love you deeply and dearly and I hope that we have made a baby tonight." She had realised two things that night One was that she wanted to start a family, Two that the only person she desperately wanted to do this with was Henry, This made her think for a moment as to why she had wanted to put it off when Sean had started to talk about starting a family, this had led to the argument that they had been having on the night before he went off to Washington, where he died from a heart attack on the running machine in the hotels gym.

The look on Henry's face when he heard what she had said was picture of hope, pride and utter love for the woman by his side. It also set off a train of thought as to why he was excited at what she had just said, and why he had tried putting Abagail off when she had first brought up the subject in the early years of their marriage, when he had changed his mind it had been to no avail as they were unable to conceive a baby.

 **Sunday Morning 15 December 2014**

When Henry eventually woke up about 9.30am he found that he was alone in bed, but hadn't obviously been for long as Jo's side of the bed was still warm. He inhaled deeply and detected the smell of freshly brewed coffee, he quickly got out of bed and put on the dressing gown that he had brought over some months ago and made his way to the kitchen to greet his beautiful fiancée. He walked quietly to the kitchen and stopped to admire her before making his presence known. When he did make a sound she spun round and leapt into his arms and attacked his lips with hers. Knowing Henry wasn't really a coffee fan, especially in a morning, she had made a pot tea with his favourite blend. She asked him if he wanted breakfast and he said that just toast would be fine.

When breakfast was finished she led Henry to the lounge and sat him down on the sofa to have the talk she had mentioned the previous evening.

Jo started by saying to him "Henry I know that there is something important that you have been keeping from me and if we are to go forward withour relationship and get married we cannot have secrets between us. You know full well that I don't like not knowing things that might damage our relationship. You are the most important person in my life and I love you deeply, I hope that you feel you can trust me with whatever you have been hiding from me."

Henry looked deep into Jo's eyes and saw the love she had for him. He had known for a few months that he needed to tell her his secret but had kept putting off the moment of truth in case she couldn't accept what he told her and left him, he knew that if that happened it would be the most devastating event in his life, probably even more so than when Abigail had disappeared.

He started by saying "Jo what will happen if you don't like what you hear about what I am about to tell you?"

She replied "Henry, what will happen if you don't let me hear?"

Henry said "Fair comment, This all started in 1815, when I was on my way back to America from England where I had been visiting my father who was dying, I had been taken on as ship surgeon on one of his ships, which it turned out was a slave ship, One of the slaves had got sick but had recovered the Captain though wanted him to be killed because of the fever he had had to prevent the other slaves becoming infected. The Captain agreed to him being brought up top for me to examine but instead he shot him and threw his body overboard. When I protested about this he also shot me and threw my body overboard. As I sunk I somehow woke up and started swimming for the surface, when I reached it the ship was too far away for me to swim back to, and I resigned myself to drowning in the middle of the ocean, what I didn't realised at that time was that the shot fired by the Captain had actually killed me. After about six hours of floating I was rescued by another ship that just happened to passing by, I eventually landed back in America and made my way home to Nora my wife, I then buried myself in my work until late one night I was walking home and was attacked and killed, however I came back to life stark naked in the East River, when I got home I told Nora what had happened and asked her to believe what I had told her that I was immortal and that it was the truth she pretended to believe me, but instead contacted the local Lunatic Asylum and had me committed, there numerous experiments were carried out, I eventually met a defrocked priest who helped me escape by hanging myself and disappearing. Over the years I have had numerous encounters with death and have been revived each time.

In 1944 I was at the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz I had met Abigail shortly before arriving there, she had found a new born baby among the piled up bodies, I didn't have an idea as to what we should do about it, we talked and it was decided that we would adopt it if we were unable to locate it's birth parents, this baby was Abraham. I had fallen in love with Abigail and we were married, as she grew older she developed cancer, then one day when I was out she left leaving a note asking me not to try and find her, naturally I ignored that and spent the next months trying to find her to no avail. This was devastating for me and I went down the rabbit hole of despair. I only really came out of this after a lot of nagging from Abe, When I met you, I could see you were hurting and I immediately felt that I wanted to get to know you and to help you escape the Rabbit Hole that you were in danger of slipping down, it didn't take me long to realise that I was quickly falling in love with you."

As he finished Jo leaned back looking at him for about five minutes with her thoughts processing the things he had told her.

Henry watched her anxiously, as he knew that if she didn't accept the things he had told her and trust him, he would be totally devastated.

After thinking things through Jo sat up and put her arms round his neck and gave him the one of the best kiss he had ever received in his life. She smiled at him and thanked him for trusting her enough to tell her his secret and she promised it was safe with her, she said that her brain was full of questions but that they could be saved for a later time, she took hold of his hand and led him back to the bedroom, the rest of the morning was taken up making passionate love.

Whilst in bed between sessions they both agreed that they didn't want to put off getting married for very long and they settled on a spring wedding about the middle to end of May.

Towards the middle of January Jo started having what she thought of as a bout of flu and had to keep making sudden dashes to the bathroom where she emptied the contents of her stomach down the toilet, when this had been going on for a couple of days or so she started to wonder if it was something more than flu and that she might in fact be pregnant and she immediately went round to her local pharmacy and purchased two pregnancy tests.

When she got home, Henry had arrived, she told him her suspicions as she headed towards the bathroom to take the tests. The wait for the result seemed to take for ever, but when the time was up she took them out to Henry, without looking at them, so they could find out the result together. Both tests were positive and the biggest grins appeared on both their faces, a couple of tears of happiness slipped down Jo's cheeks. She picked up her cell phone and called her doctor to make an appointment for the following day to confirm the result, Henry told her that he would go with her as he wanted to be as fully involved with the pregnancy as possible from the very start.

About eight months after taking the pregnancy test Jo went into labour and after about twelve hours delivered a beautiful baby girl who they named Bethany Henrietta.

Towards the end of the following year Jo once again became pregnant, with what was eventually to be their son who they named Jonathon Abraham, his second name being in remembrance of Henry's adopted son who had passed away in his sleep six months previously.

One evening about three months later Jo was sat on Henry's lap running her fingers through his hair when she noticed what appeared to be a number of grey hairs that had appeared in the hairline at the side of his temple. She said "Henry it looks as though the experiment of shooting yourself in the arm with that flintlock pistol that Adam gave you to cure you of immortality may have worked, as unless you have started to streak your hair with grey to make it look as though you are aging, you are developing gray hairs."

Henry replied "No Jo you know I wouldn't do that."

Jo said "In that case you must be actually starting to age. Which means that you are no longer immortal, therefore if you were to be killed you will no longer revive. So from now on you cannot go to crime scenes where there is a danger of that happening as I don't want to become a widow and the kids loose their father for as long a time as possible. Therefore as I don't want to work without my partner I am going to resign from the NYPD and become a full time mom. to look after our three children."

Henry's mouth immediately sprung a huge grin and he leaned into Jo and said "You're pregnant again? That's fantastic Jo, I will love you Forever."

THE END

 **A.N. when I started this I had intended it to be one chapter centred on Henry being invited to join the 12** **th** **Precinct Homicide squad in celebrating the engagement of Beckett and Castle, with him spotting Jo and her being invited to join in. For some reason my brain didn't want to stop at that point and dragged me in for another two chapters.**

 **We should know within the next week or so whether Season 8 of Castle is going to be ordered. This will I expect to a great extent depend of whether Stana decides to resign (Can you please make up your mind woman and put your many fans out of their agony!,) No doubt her mind has largely been elsewhere over the last week or so, what with her recent marriage (For which Best Wishes are offered.) and shooting a new film.**

 **With regard to Forever things do not look very hopeful for a renewal, due to the low ratings, though these do appeared to have picked up slightly over the last week or two, maybe someone at ABC will have a brainstorm and renew it for another season. (Some hope I fear!)**


End file.
